Android Phones

One common gripe with the Samsung Galaxy S 4 is the fact that it contains an excessive amount of TouchWiz bloatware that the phone often suffers as a result. Many were pleased with the previous Samsung Galaxy Nexus and hoped that Samsung would continue to be a part of the Nexus program. While that prospect never seemed to materialize as LG stepped up with the Nexus 4, we heard a few days ago that Google will launch the Samsung Galaxy S 4 through the Play Store.

The special Google Play Store version of the S 4 will run stock Android 4.2 and receive updates straight from Google. The benefits of such a stock phone is fast updates, a stable and clean Android build, and easy to unlock and run custom ROMs. The only disappointing part of the announcement for me is the fact that Google will sell it for $649 through the Play Store, and not $299 or $349 as the Nexus 4 costs.

In any event, the off contract Galaxy S 4 that operates on AT&T and T-Mobile’s LTE network will be available on June 26 for $649 off contract.